Most Helpful Customer Reviews

From the opening scene of Washington waking up in bed with a stewardess, drinking leftover booze and snorting a line of coke - before heading to the airport to fly a plane... we know we are in for a role from him a little different than we have seen for a while. This is a man whose life is figuratively, and pretty soon literally, in freefall. The opening act of the movie is a plane crash that is both visceral and believable.. a reminder of Zemeckis the director who knows the value of special effects and how they help you tell a story. The rest of the movie reveals a different director altogether, the director of Castaway, Forrest Gump and Contact, who understands how to reveal character and make people 3 dimensional. After that crash, the movie's drama is all based on the character. He is told he has to stay clean and off the booze, and his battle with that is what drives the movie forward, as the movie explores the period up to the Federal investigation hearing. As the debris from the plane is pulled to together to investigate the crash, the movie starts to explore the wreckage that is Denzel's life. The middle stretch of the movie is a bit baggy for sure, but it's hard to say what should have been cut, because every minute of Washington on screen is electric. If it hadn't been for Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, I'm sure the Oscar would have been his. A memorable scene involves him and a hotel mini-bar, in a will he-won't he moment that is wonderfully cut together and shows the director and actor in top form.Read more ›

From the academy award winning director that brought us Forrest Gump and Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis returns with another intense drama / thriller entitled Flight, starring Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood. The film is based around the character of an American airline pilot, Whip Whitaker (Denzel) and his “doomed” flight, SouthJet 227, from Orlando to Atlanta. The movie starts off on a roll with Denzel's exceptional acting, in bed with a stewardess, Katerina Marquez (Nadine), smoking and snorting a line of cocaine before going for his flight. Whip goes to the flight with this happy go lucky attitude and utters, “like a game”, while actually taking off in a severe thunderstorm and sings “feeling alright, feeling alright” at the amazement of his co-pilot. As thrilling events of the flight unfold, we see the plane malfunction and Whip pulling a stunt that although it doesn't help from the plane crashing, manages to save 96 people out of the 102 souls on board the plane. This part is so realistic that it makes you feel like not boarding another plane in your life.The crash is Whip's wake up call and from this moment onwards, the movie takes a drama approach and we see him battling his alcohol addiction through his lifes' up and downs. Simultaneously we are also introduced to the life of Nicole (Kelly), who also has a drug addiction. This is a very interesting side of the movie-making process as we can see how Robert manages to connect their lives together. Whip is dealing with his alcohol addiction and the crash. At the same time, Nicole is struggling with a drug addiction.Read more ›

The ever excellent Denzel Washington teams up with super director Robert Zemeckis to create a powerful drama, that at times falls into sentimentality too much, but when it's gritty, and showing the lead character at his worst (i.e. drunk or on drugs) it really is quite emotional and more importantly believable.

Denzel plays an air line pilot, who is heavily dependant on booze and drugs, but covers it up well (or he thinks he does) when going to work. He has a lot of personal problems, since separating from his wife, and kids, and uses this as an excuse to get wasted.

On a routine flight a massive mechanical/electrical failure to the air craft means he has to use his years of experience to crash land the plane, and try and save all on board.

He is commended for his actions, and becomes a public/media hero, but with the investigation under way as to the cause of the crash, the authorities are aware he had drugs and alcohol in his system.

Thus starts a drama that leads to typical Hollywood conclusion where he must fight his demons and co operate with the investigation, knowing he may well be put to prison, despite even the authorities admitting no one else could have landed the plane the way he did.

The plane crash sequence is simply harrowing, right up there with the best of them, and lets be fair director Zemeckis has done this before with the Tom Hanks movie castaway, but this brings it to a new level, it really is unsettling to watch.Read more ›